BBC Celebrity MasterChef was back for its semi-final episode on Tuesday, and as the competition heats up, the judges seem to have become suspicious of the contestants.
The second task of the episode saw the team having to create a dish using an ingredient they don’t like the taste of.
Strictly Come Dancing star Vito Coppola, 31, decided to serve judges John Torrode and Gregg Wallace a meal using spinach – a vegetable he finds disgusting. A method he used to deal with this left Torode concerned though.
“Today you’re cooking to a brief,” the judge explained as he set out the task for the eight remaining contestants.
“And that brief is to cook for Gregg and I a dish with an ingredient that you do not like,” he continued, adding: “Ladies and gentlemen, one hour, 30 minutes.”
He went on to warn the group that one of them would be leaving the competition following the task.
Speaking to Wallace, Coppola detailed his decision to make a ravioli.
“Today I am a bit anxious, I’m not going to lie,” he admitted, continuing: “I don’t like spinach.”
Sharing an anecdote about his disdain for the vegetable, the Italian dancer went on: “My mum tried all the ways possible to give me spinach.
“When she turned around, I just went out from the balcony and sort of like [imitated spitting food out].
“And after two minutes, our neighbour came up with the white bed sheet – just cleaned – all green. And she said, ‘You threw the spinach from the balcony!'”
“You’re a bad boy,” Wallace quipped, to which Coppola confessed: “My mum really told me off, but that was the last time that she offered me spinach as a meal!”
Observing the different dishes being made in the kitchen, Torode told the cameras: “Vito is making us a ravioli which has got a pasta made with spinach, filled with ricotta filling and spinach, with an egg yolk in the centre.”
After spotting how the choreographer had decided to allow co-star Jake Quickenden to taste test the dish for him, Torode voice his worries to the camera.
“We’ve also got the sauce made from spinach, served with guanciale, which is a cured pork cheek… Vito is so adverse to spinach, he’s asking Jake to taste his sauce for him.
“That’s dangerous, it’s a competition – he could stitch him up!”
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Thinking along the same lines, TV personality Quikenden, 36, walked away after assuring Coppola the food tasted “delicious” and commented: “Sabotage – it tasted horrible!”
However, he soon made clear he’d been joking as he commented: “No, it didn’t really.”
Unfortunately for Quikenden, he ended up being eliminated from the series but reflected on how much he had enjoyed the experience.
Seven celebrities now remain in the competition, including Rochenda Sandall, Ian “H” Watkins, Dominic Skinner, Craig Doyle, Tamer Hassan, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Coppola.
